On the heels of a federal court ruling that bans the Trump administration from withholding funding from so-called “sanctuary cities,” the California legislature voted to become a “sanctuary state.” According to the Los Angeles Times, lawmakers there “passed a Senate bill that would turn the state into a sanctuary for immigrants without legal residency in the country” — a political and legislative move seen by many as a direct response to the president’s back-and-forth over DACA and Attorney General Jeff Sessions’s boisterous support for exacting strict limits on legal and illegal immigration.
Despite “staunch opposition from Republican sheriffs and threats from Trump administration officials,” the SB 54 proposed, written and amended by Sen. Kevin de León of Los Angeles passed with a final vote of 27 to 11. “This is a measure that reflects the values of who we are as a great state,” De León declared following the bill’s passage. The state’s Democratic governor, Jerry Brown, is expected to sign off on the bill, which he and the senator negotiated over at great length regarding certain amendments.
SB 54 would limit state and local law enforcement agencies from communication with federal immigration authorities, and prevent all state and local police forces from questioning and holding people on immigration violations.
But amendments added this week would permit officers to continue sharing information and transferring people for immigration authorities if they have convictions for one or more of roughly 800 crimes.
If and when Brown signs the bill into law, it will go into effect on January 1st, 2018. And when this happens, the new legislation — along with the state’s anti-deportation measure, the Trust Act — will present the Trump administration and the Justice Department with some of the strongest state-level opposition to their immigration policies yet.
(Via Los Angeles Times)